Chapter 28

Twenty-Eight

I was goingto make Remi dinner tonight—or at least try to. I'd assisted him in the kitchen a lot over the last few weeks, and I thought it would be a nice gesture. One small thing to show him how much I appreciate having him in my life.

Nothing could ever express how grateful I was, but I thought this might put a smile on his face.

The grocery store was packed, so while I stood in line, I texted my cousin.

Me: How's it going?

He must've looked at his phone right away because he texted back in less than thirty seconds.

Ker: I'm not telling you, Bel. Just drop it.

Me: I didn't say anything.

Ker: Like I don't know why you're texting me.

Me: Can't a guy just text his cuz to see how he's doing?

Ker: Nope.

I couldn't help but laugh at that, and I couldn't deny that he was right. I only texted him to try and find out why he hated Anton so much. Still, I sent him a couple middle finger emojis for good measure.

He sent back an eye-roll one, making me snort again.

I switched over to my conversation with Remi and reread the last text he'd sent me.

Remi: The coin came back. Found it in my pocket a few minutes ago.

What the actual hell? Why did it randomly show up again after so many weeks? What did it want? Could it want somethin'? Was the coin… sentient?

I hadn't written back yet because I didn't know what to say, but Remi deserved a response, so I typed somethin' out.

Me: What do you think it means? Why'd it come back?

Remi: I have no idea. I set it on my desk to keep an eye on it. I also took some pictures and sent them to my dads.

Me: Let me know what they say.

Remi: I will, may'ezza. I'll see you in about an hour.

That made me smile, and I glanced up, noticing that I was next in line—thank the Mother.

After checking out, I walked out of the grocery store with a bag hanging off my arm, staring at the photos Remi sent me. A shadow stepped into my path, and I glanced up. I was about to complain to whoever was being rude and blocking the walkway, but my voice got tangled in my throat.

Terrell stood there with a deep frown on his face. The first thing out of his mouth was, "I'm sorry."

I swallowed thickly. "Why? You here to kill me?"

He grimaced. "No, but I am here to take you to Luynore."

My shoulders sagged. I'd known he'd come back for me, I'd just hoped it wouldn't be so soon.

Since my phone was already out, I dropped my bag and typed a text without looking at it, keeping my gaze on Terrell so he wouldn't notice what I was doing. I knew now that he didn't want to be here, didn't want to do the things Luynore forced him to do, but he had as much choice in it as I did—none.

"Where is he? At his home, office, or some remote place he can hide my body?"

"His office." Terrell's eyes flicked to my phone, and my heart froze for a minute. But then the man glanced back at me with a small smile, like he was happy I was notifying someone. "Your shadows see you, right? They know who I am?"

I froze, my eyes wide. "M-my shadows?"

Terrell rolled his eyes. "Luynore had me watch you to make sure your wolf wasn't with you… he didn't say anything about guards, though, so I didn't tell him."

Holy shit. He was… he was really tryin' to give me the best chance he could. "Thank you, Ter," I whispered, patting his arm.

He shrugged. "He expects me to drag you back to him, but he only ordered me to bring you there—no dragging necessary."

I blinked at that and pictured him literally dragging me down the street. Yikes. "I'll come with you willingly. But I don't want you gettin' in trouble for me."

He shrugged. "I don't think he'll notice how you get there. I've never seen him so pissed before. He hasn't stopped ranting about you and the museum since you guys got caught."

"That was six weeks ago."

"I know."

I cringed, sent the text, figured I had to leave the groceries on the ground—dammit—and put my phone back in my pocket. I wanted to put it in my air pocket, but we hadn't had a chance to test whether that affected the signal or not, so it went into my jeans pocket. Hopefully Luynore wouldn't remove it from me. Hopefully Remi would be able to follow me.

To Terrell, I said, "I'm sorry if he hurt you because of it."

"Not your fault." He cleared his throat. "Let's go the long way. Maybe your boyfriend will catch up."

I stared at him for a beat. "You really want him to get caught, don't you?"

He snorted. "Of course I do. He's been threatening my family for years. He deserves whatever's coming for him."

I grinned. "He sure as hell does."

So that was how I found myself kidnapped—in broad daylight with a tail—by the nicest kidnapper to have ever kidnapped.

"Remi?" I tried yelling to him telepathically, but he couldn't hear me. We should've practiced more. I couldn't hear him, not with a large distance between us. "Remi? Please be careful when you come." Because I knew he would. I had absolutely zero doubt he'd come for me.

It made my heart warm even as fear for him churned my stomach.

Terrell took me to Luynore's building, and I glanced behind myself to search for Remi's guards—Henry and Gabe. I saw them, and they both looked tense and pissed off. Their instructions were to follow me and keep their distance until Remi got here. I might not be able to hear what was being said to them through the comms, but I knew that because Remi and I had been over this plan a thousand times.

The guards would step in if there was a life-threatening situation, but until then, they were supposed to keep track of me—so Remi knew exactly where I was, no matter what Luynore wanted me to do.

The second I stepped inside, I could feel Luynore's magic, and it felt… off. Angry. Malicious.

Evil.

I shivered, and Terrell shared a look with me, but like the suckers we were, we followed our usual trek to the elevator and up to his office with my guards waiting outside. One guard would come inside, keeping his distance, while the other would wait outside in case I left again.

When the elevator doors opened, I hesitated there, not wanting to take another step closer. Luynore's magic had never felt like this. Yes, it had always had an undertone of darkness in it, but this was… somethin' else.

Something corrupt. Something vile.

Something I didn't want anything to do with.

Terrell patted my shoulder. "Come on. Let's get this over with."

I blew out a breath and followed him inside, my eyes wide as I watched Luynore pace back and forth.

The second I stepped through the door, Luynore turned to me with a malicious grin, saying, "Finally. I have something you need to do for me."

I didn't say anything because I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut when he was emanating so much evil.

Luynore came to stand in front of me. "You and I are heading to the Sedoba Art Gallery, and you're going to help me get what I want."

I opened my mouth to reply, but a scream came out when Luynore pulled on my obligation. I fell to my knees, wrapping my arms around my middle while I tried to keep the bile from rising.

"Not one word." He stood, leaving me on the floor, gasping for air. "Terrell?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You're coming with since Belryn's boyfriend stole all my men away."

"Yes, sir." Terrell didn't sound happy about that, but I couldn't help him since Luynore was still pulling on my obligation.

"Where exactly did your boy toy take them?" I didn't realize he was speaking to me until his magic yanked on my guts sharply again. "Where. Did. He. Take. Them?"

"Wh-who?" I gasped out.

"Who? Who, he asks. Are you stupid, Belryn? Did I make a mistake in thinking you had a brain? Where the hell did Remington Ellwood take my men?"

My brow furrowed, even in the midst of pain. "Jail…?"

Luynore barked out a laugh. "They're not in jail. They're not anywhere. There's no record of arrest. So tell me, Belryn"—he pulled on my obligation again—"where the fuck did he take them?"

"I don't know."

He yanked even harder, using his magic to make me scream out as pain erupted inside my belly. "Useless." He kicked me, making me fall to the side as I cried out. "Piece of useless garbage."

There was a knock on the door, and I was grateful for it, if only because it took the focus off me for a moment.

Luynore said, "What?"

"Sir? We found him."

The grin on Luynore's face turned smarmy. "Bring him here."

The office door flew open, and my heart sank. One of Luynore's men had my guard, Henry, in handcuffs. From the blood on his head and the forming black eye, I'd say the shifter had put up a good fight.

Luynore walked over to him. "Kneel."

"Fuck you." Henry went to spit in Luynore's face, but Luynore slapped him across the cheek before he could. It was clear Luynore had laced the hit with his magic, making poor Henry cry out in horrible pain. "Fuck. You," Henry said again, this time with blood comin' out of his mouth.

With a calm I didn't trust, the evil fae reached into one of his own air pockets and pulled out a long sword. A long sword that sang with fae magic, clearly a weapon he'd had for a long time and one he'd pushed his magic into over the years.

My eyes widened as he lifted it, aiming at Henry's head, then looked at me, saying, "Tell me where my men are."

"I don't know. I swear I don't?—"

The sound of metal and fae magic sliding through flesh and bone rang loud in my ears, cutting me off.

Shock. Horror. Disgust. Sadness.

All these things passed through me as I watched Henry's head fall to the ground, rolling away as his body tipped over, blood seeping from it. A strangled sound came out of me.

He'd cut his head off. Holy shit, Luynore had killed him. He'd killed poor Henry.

Grief was a sudden and horror-filled emotion. Henry had a daughter who I'd met a couple of weeks ago. He was a nice guy. He'd been becomin' something of a friend these past few weeks. I'd eaten meals with him. I'd invited him inside the apartment when it was freezing out because I didn't want him waiting for me in the snow.

And Luynore had killed him.

Why?

"What the fuck's wrong with you!" I screamed. "You killed him! Why the fuck did you kill him?"

Luynore smacked me in the side of the head with the handle of his sword, and my head flew to the side. I grunted, piercing pain shooting through my head in an automatic headache. I felt something wet drip down from my temple, and I grabbed my head, holding it in my arms and tryin' to protect myself from another hit.

"Are there more guards?" Luynore asked me, sounding pissed.

I formed the word no on my lips, but when I opened my mouth, "Yes," came out because my obligation wouldn't let me lie.

"How many?"

I clamped my mouth shut, biting my cheeks and refusing to answer. Gabe was still out there, and if I could, I'd do everything in my power to protect him.

"How many?"

When I didn't answer, Luynore lifted his sword. I expected him to point it at me, but he bypassed me completely and aimed it right at Terrell's neck.

"You think I haven't noticed what you've been up to, Terrell?" He stepped closer, and Luynore obviously tugged on his obligation because Terrell fell to his knees, grabbing his stomach. It was the first time I'd ever seen him do that to my gargoyle ally. "You think you can betray me?" He shouted the words, shoving the end of the sword against Terrell's throat, making a trickle of blood drip down. Luynore looked at me. "How many more guards do you have?"

"Don't say it, Bel?—"

Luynore smacked Terrell's forehead with the butt of the sword, cutting him off and givin' him a matching injury to the one I sported. "Shut your fat mouth, you filthy piece?—"

"Please don't hurt him," I said, wincing through the pain in my head and belly. "Please. He doesn't have anything to do with this."

When Luynore turned back to me, there was a gleam in his eyes that was setting off alarm bells. "What are you willing to trade for his life, my dear Belryn?"

Terrell's blood-soaked head shook, telling me not to help him. But how could I not? How could I let him die? Sure, it would cost me, but I already owed Luynore more than I could pay in this lifetime. What would it matter to add on another life debt?

I squinted up at Luynore and whispered, "Anything. Just promise not to hurt or kill him."

Luynore let out a loud laugh and tucked his sword back in an air pocket. "Done."

I felt his magic wrap around me, and I swore it felt like he was squeezing my heart with his fist. It pounded loud and hard as the debt weighed me down more than I'd expected. I was so used to carrying this obligation with me that I didn't even notice it there, but this… this felt heavy. This felt like a lot.

And then the bastard tugged on that obligation, tightening his hold and makin' it feel like I couldn't breathe. "How many more guards do you have?"

"One," I choked out, hating myself and feeling like I'd just chosen between Terrell's and Gabe's lives.

Luynore waved at his men. "Find him."

I prayed that Gabe had left. That he'd gone to find reinforcements. That Luynore's men would never find him.

But less than ten minutes passed before there was another knock on the office door, and I just knew I wasn't that lucky.

"Come in."

"Here's the other one, sir," Luynore's man—a witch, from the feel of his magic—said, shoving Gabe into the room.

My eyes filled with tears. "Please don't," I begged, more than willing to take on another life debt if it meant keeping Gabe alive. "Please, I'll do anythin'. Please, I can?—"

Luynore took one look at him and pulled his sword from its air pocket.

"No!" I shouted, but it was too late.

Luynore's sword, infused with his ugly magic, sliced through the air, and Gabe's head fell one way, his body the other.

A sob tore from my chest. "No! Noooo!" Tears fell from my eyes, mixing with the blood pouring down my face.

Luynore tucked his sword away again and moved closer to me. He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back, getting in my face. "You better prove yourself to me today, or I might find a reason not to keep you around." He moved impossibly closer and whispered into my ear, "I'm out of patience." He threw my head back and finally released the pull on my obligation. "On your feet. Let's go." He gestured at Terrell. "You too."

Terrell and I helped each other off the floor, then followed Luynore through the building and out the back door to an SUV with tinted windows. No one could see inside. No one would know Luynore had Terrell and me in the back.

I just had to pray that my phone was sending a signal and that Remi would reach me before Luynore hurt or killed someone else.

Fuck. That was a whole lot of luck I was relying on.